Rogue Trader: Just Here for the Explosions

It is the 41st Millennium

For more than a hundred centuries the Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day so that he may never truly die.
Yet in his deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the Daemon-infested miasma of the warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomicon, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor’s will.
Vast armies give battle in his name on uncounted worlds, but for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat from aliens, heretics, mutants, and worse.
To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. Yet into these benighted times there stride mighty individuals; Rogue Traders are among those precious few who stand on the threshold of unlimited opportunity and possess the freedom to chart the course of their own destiny. The role of the Rogue Trader in the Imperium is to go beyond the borders of Imperial space to seek out new worlds to exploit, lost human civilizations to rediscover and return to the Imperial Creed, and rare resources to harvest. His authority to accomplish these feats comes from a rare and ancient warrant of trade, which has been handed down through his family for generations. The Rogue Trader’s warrant gives him almost limitless freedom and makes him practically a law unto himself—a privilege that most Imperial citizens, high or low, can only dream of. Renown and riches reward the bold, but the unwary find only anonymous deaths. A Rogue Trader who can wrest profits from a dangerous universe through luck, cunning, or sheer force of will enjoys something few humans in the 41st Millennium even know—a life of adventure and true freedom.

Such a course, however, is often fraught with peril. Foul aliens, pernicious raiders, and even other Rogue Traders stand in your way on the path to greatness. One’s wits, luck, skill, and courage will be tested to their utmost limits. To survive is to face even greater challenges—and to wield even greater power.